Help Me Help You
by Kenjiro Minami
Summary: Eleven years after knowing each other, Askira and Gadreel are happy together. He's happy, she's happy, and her daughter, Evangeline, is happy. Until something happens. Something they never saw coming, and had no hopes of getting through it, and in the end losing the thing that kept the three of them together.
1. Chapter 1

**Yooooooo. New two-shot. :D Was originally going to be a one-shot, but then I got to the end, and saw the word count above two thousand…. Meh. :P**

...

"...Evangeline says she is _loving_ her fifth grade teacher, Gadreel. She says that he…" The red head laying with him went on about her daughter. He smiled as she did, listening in a little to what she said, but growing tired the more she talked. She had been going off about their most recent day living with the son of Ares since she had arrived home from her job at the mechanics across town. Gadreel didn't know of any polite way to make her shut up, so he did the only thing he could think of.

Pulling his girlfriend closer to him, he pressed his lips to hers, kissing her gently. "Mmm... And I... I finally got... enough... Money to go to..." She continued to try and talk around and between it, but when Gadreel continued to insist the kiss upon her, she went silent and kissed him back. After a while, the son of Ares broke it off, smiling slightly. The red head laying with him smiled as well before letting out a small, tired yawn. Gadreel chuckled.

"Go to sleep, Askira." He murmured, brushing some hair out of her face.

"I'm not tired..." She argued.

The naturally tanned man gave her lips another small kiss. "Yes, you are. You spent twelve hours at work today, and you've been going off about your day for three. It's just about midnight. You need to get some sleep. You need to wake up in six hours for work again."

Askira frowned, about to argue, but another yawn escaped her. She scowled. "Fine. But I still had something to tell you."

"You can tell me in the morning. Now go to sleep."

He watched as the daughter of Hephaestus closed her green eyes, listening to her grumble something about not needing sleep, making him chuckle a little, and he watched as she slowly fell asleep. He brushed a bit more hair out of her face once she fell asleep, giving her a final kiss on her forehead before removing his arms from around her. He rolled over and opened the drawer to his night stand, making sure what he had in there was still in there, and smiled slightly. He closed it again after locating it, and laid down, closing his eyes to get some sleep himself.

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-

"Evangeline would you stop running?!" Gadreel exclaimed in frustration, chasing after Askira's daughter. "You need to be at school in fifteen minutes! That's how long it takes to drive you there!"

"Gotta catch me first, Gadreel!" The quarter demigod, quarter monster, half human seven year-old laughed. She dodged Gadreel's advancements once more, dancing around him with the ribbons in her red hair waving in the wind she created.

Gadreel's pale blue eyes widened when he saw the wall, and he quickly applied the brakes to his charge, falling on the floor instead of colliding head first with the wall. He grunted, landing with an _oofh_ and a heavy thud. Evangeline laughed behind him, skipping back up to her room. Gadreel grumbled as he sat back up, rubbing his sore back. He hated the mornings when Askira wasn't there. Evangeline _always_ listened to her mom, and always had, even when she was only a baby. Rarely ever did she listen to Gadreel, always wanting to play with the son of Ares instead of listening to what he was telling her to do.

Sighing, Gadreel fell back onto the floor in defeat. He rubbed his face with his hands before letting those fall onto the floor around him, staring up at the white popcorned ceiling of his and Askira's apartment. After a while, he closed his eyes, giving up on chasing Evangeline around the interior of their home for a second year in a row, not wanting to go through with it all again.

He wanted summer back. Summer was much easier, when Askira would send Evangeline to Camp Phoenix, to the camp that the two demigods had met at. He wanted Ben back, too. Ava listened to Ben, her uncle, just as much as she listened to her mother. But summer was gone, and they were a week into the school year. Ben was gone, at his own job and trying to spend as much time with his three year old son and wife as work would allow. Occasionally Ava's uncle would take her for a weekend to spend time with her the rest of her family, but the weekend was far away, two days too far.

"Gadreel?" Evangeline's voice spoke up a few feet away from him. He looked over to see her at the bottom of the apartment stairs, dressed and ready for school, her backpack on and shoes mismatched, one shoe from one pair on her left foot, and one shoe from another pair on her right. Gadreel opened his mouth, about to tell her to fix it, but shook his head instead, chuckling and rolling his eyes. Maybe sometimes he did enjoy having Evangeline around. The ten year-old girl was good company sometimes, and she never failed to make him laugh at least once a day. Though she wasn't his daughter by blood, he still thought of her as his, and he had since Askira first introduced him to her daughter, ten years ago when she brought her to camp for two weeks, the year they had first kissed, and the year they had started dating.

He sensed Evangeline's hesitance when he didn't respond. "I'm sorry…" She murmured. "I'll listen better tomorrow. I promise I will." Gadreel rolled his eyes, knowing well she wouldn't.

"Alright. If you do, I'll take you for some ice cream." He looked over just in time to see her gray-brown eyes light in excitement, and she nodded eagerly. The son of Ares chuckled and stood, stretching his back out as he did. "Ready for school?"

Again she nodded, and Gadreel smiled a little. "Out the door then. Let's get going."

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-

Gadreel was exhausted by the time he finally made it back home several hours later. He dropped onto the couch in the living room, not bothering to change out of his clothes. He wanted badly to sleep, drained from needing to chase a monster posing as a robber half way across town after spotting it trying to get inside what he assumed to be a tasty demigod's house on his way to work. He had chased it all day, missing work, and about an hour after he was due to be off work he had finally caught up and had slain the beast, but only after jumping into a hundred yards, sprinting down a thousand blocks, and scaling a few walls when he came across a dead end in an alleyway that the monster had led him into.

Though he refused to sleep, despite the terrible ache in his muscles from over-exertion and the mass amounts of sweat rolling from his forehead, slicking his brown hair back. He didn't want to be asleep when Askira came back home, wanting desperately to ask her a question. He groaned once he realized she'd demand him to take a shower once she came home and smelt the over-powering stench of sweat coming from the son of Ares, and that she wouldn't let him talk until he was clean and smelling fresh.

Groaning once more, he got his hands beneath him and pushed himself to a sitting position. Head spinning a little, he stood and stumbled to the kitchen, bringing down a glass of water and filling it several times, downing each glass he filled, before setting the cup in the sink and going to the bathroom for a shower.

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-

As soon as Gadreel was out of the shower and dressed, he heard the front door open. Quickly he scrambled for the bedroom he and Askira shared, taking his dirty and sweat drenched clothes with him, depositing them in the washing machine in the closet at the start of the hall connecting the two different rooms. He stumbled over one of Evangeline's toys, cursing as he caught himself on a wall before continuing his advancement on their room. The son of Ares opened the drawer to his night stand, shuffling through the drawer till he found what he was looking for. Pulling it out, he shoved it into his pocket before making his way downstairs.

He froze when he heard the sobs coming from the living room, halfway down the stairs. Making his way silently down the rest of the stairs, he peered around the corner, spotting Askira's dull red hair pulled up and out of her face, not taken down after she had finished her shift at the mechanics. Gadreel bit his lip, hesitating before approaching her, slower and less eager than before. "Askira?" The son of Ares asked hesitantly, stopping a couple feet behind the couch.

The daughter of Hephaestus turned around at her name. She wiped at her tears, giving Gadreel a small smile. He bit his lip slightly when he saw the joy in her green eyes, confused as to why she was crying if she was that happy. She had never cried when she was happy before. At least not while he was around…

"Are you okay…?" He asked hesitantly, going around the couch to sit down beside her. He noticed a paper in her hands, and he shot a glance at it. There were a whole bunch of words on it, a few he recognized as medical terms, and he grew ever the more confused.

Askira smiled a bit more and nodded. She wiped at her eyes a little more before handing Gadreel the paper. He skimmed over it with his pale blue eyes, growing nervous as he caught sight of the few words he understood on it, words like "fetus" and "return in two weeks for a cheek on growth progress". He bit his lip as he finished skimming the paper, glancing back at the top to see "Results: Conclusive" scrawled across the top.

"You're… You're…" His mouth suddenly turned dry, unable to get the word out.

Askira nodded, wiping at her tears. "Yes. I'm pregnant, Gadreel. That's what I still had to tell you last night. I went in today. That's why I worked so late yesterday- so I could get off early today and go in to get the tests done. And they're positive. They're all positive." She noticed his blank expression, and she bit her lip. "D-do you not want this…?" She asked hesitantly.

Gadreel quickly shook his head. "N-no. A-A-Askira… This is… Th-this is great news, Askira. I… We…. We're having a child together…." He rubbed his face, trying to get the thought through his head that that was what was going on. She allowed him some silence to allow the information to sink in. After it had, the The thing he had shoved into his pocket suddenly made itself re-known to the son of Ares, and he sighed. "I guess now's as good a time to ask you…" He murmured, reaching into his pocket.

Askira tilted her head curiously. "Ask me what, Gadreel?" She asked curiously. He saw her green eyes glance at where his hand was reaching, and he gave her a loose grin, pulling it out of his pocket. Her eyes widened, and he watched as her mouth fell open, jaw hanging in her shock.

"Askira, I have loved you since…. Gods. I think since the trip to Rome eleven years ago." He started. "I'm not going to be all romantic with this since… I'm not good at that, and I hate to be clichéd. But… Askira Jones, Ms. _Independent_ ," He grinned when he called her by her nickname from Camp Phoenix. "Would you like to marry me, Mister 'One-Man-Army', and become _Misses Dependent_ and allow me to take on the world as Mister _Two_ Man Army?"

He saw the fear flash in her green eyes, and he knew why she was afraid, and knew she was about to go back to the whole "undeserving" thing she had done as a teen. But when he saw her swallow thickly and nod, he couldn't help but to feel relief, and couldn't help the heavy sigh that accompanied the feeling. He was about to speak again, until warm, soft lips were pressed to his, and he immediately melted into the kiss, fumbling for Askira's left hand and slipping the engagement ring onto her finger before bringing his arms up and pulling her closer to him.

 **…**

 **Happy moments! :D**

 **Quick thing: Gadreel is _not_ mine. He is Oddington's, still, as you all would know if you read _Frozen Waters: Book 2_. :3**


	2. Chapter 2

Two months later, Askira and Gadreel were married. The growth of their unborn child was progressing wonderfully, and the chances of a miscarriage had lessened to the points of almost nonexistent. Evangeline had started to listen to Gadreel more often now, making mornings less of a pain and hassle for the son of Ares. Askira was set and ready to go to her first year of college after she gave birth, not wanting to go while she was pregnant because she had done that before, back when she was pregnant with Evangeline when she was fifteen, and even the slightest bit of stress had made her break down and cry. So she was waiting for after she went through labor to go, already paid and her classes already set up for after wards.

A common argument amongst the now married couple was what they were going to name their child. Every time the argument was brought up, it always started with an "It depends on what it _is_ " From Askira, followed by an "I already know what it is. It's a boy" from Gadreel, to which Askira would argue that he wasn't the one pregnant with their child, so he couldn't possibly have "an expecting mother's sixth sense", as she had called it, and couldn't _possibly_ know. But by that time Gadreel was already firing off names to name his "son", and Askira would counter them and argue why they couldn't name their child, if it even _was_ a boy, those names. Gadreel would then appear offended, and an argument would instill.

But other than that, they lived a relatively argument free life for all of Askira's pregnancy. Gadreel began to build up more paid time off hours, working late at his job so that he could take time off when it was time for Askira to start her maternity leave from her own job, wanting to be there with her as much as possible. And so, on the first day of her leave, four months after they had been wedded, Gadreel was there for her, a week worth of PTO accumulated and set aside.

The husband and wife sat on their living room couch, talking about what was going on at their jobs, and over all what they've been doing. Gadreels back was resting against the arm of the couch, one of his legs propped up on the couch and his other hanging off the edge of the couch, foot on the floor and bouncing his knee occasionally. Askira sat between his legs, her back to his chest and leaning back into him, both her feet on the couch to allow her a more comfortable position with her heavily swollen stomach getting in the way when she tried to sit in other positions. Gadreel had a hand resting on her stomach, occasionally rubbing it with his warm hand, smiling every time he felt their child kick. His other hand was holding one of Askira's, thumb rubbing the top of her smaller hand as they continued to sit, talking, occasionally giving each other little kisses.

Eventually their conversation drifted to the child still growing inside of Askira.

"I don't see why you can't go and get an ultra sound and confirm that we are in fact expecting a son." Gadreel started.

"I want it to be a surprise." Askira argued with a frown. "Don't you want it to be?"

"Well, I mean… _yeah_ , I sort of do. But… I _really_ want to know if I'm going to be the only guy in the house or not." He whined, making Askira laugh.

"And what if you are? What will you do then?"

"Then we'll try again until we _do_ get a boy." He responded, nodding as he decided on his course of actions if their child was a girl.

Askira chuckled. "And if the next one's a girl, too? And the one after that? And after that? You know, eventually I'm going to get tired of going through labor so many times and being pregnant and needing to eat more than I usually eat and always being tired… I'm just going to demand you to go in and get cut."

Gadreels pale blue eyes widened, and he shook his head. "N-no. That can lower my testosterone, and that'll make it harder for me to get my muscles and maintain my athletic build, and I'll be lazier, and…" He fired off more reasons as to why he wouldn't do that, Askira giggling the entire time. After a while, he finally realized she had been joking, and he turned red. "I-I mean… W-we'll stop at two. Only try one more time if this one's a girl." _Not that we were trying this time…_ He added silently in his head, thinking back to when Askira had told him she was pregnant on the day he was going to propose. He thought back further, running through his mind of when they had had sex and when he could have possibly gotten her pregnant, _swearing_ he had used protection.

… Hadn't he?

A noise Askira made broke him from his thoughts. He blinked, looking down at his wife who was still sitting in his arms. Their child was kicking furiously at his hand, and there was something else beneath him…

"Gadreel," Askira said his name through gritted teeth, clutching her stomach as best she could around the bulge of their child. She made another pained noise, and his eyes widened, finally understanding what was going on.

"Shit," he swore as he stood, scooping Askira into his arms and rushing to the car. "It's too early. Too early…"

The son of Ares grabbed the car keys on his way out the door, awkwardly holding his wife as he shut the door behind them, not bothering to lock it as he rushed to the car, unlocking it and setting her in the back seat where she could lay down as Gadreel hurriedly got into the driver's seat and started the car so they could make it the hospital as soon as possible.

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-

Gadreel paced around the halls outside of Askira's room, biting his lip every time he heard her wail when the doctors with her told her to push. Several times he had walked up to the door and placed his hand on the handle, and several times he had stopped when he heard her wail again. Quickly he would resume pacing, biting his lip to the point of making it bleed, after which he would then nervously bite a knuckle until that started bleeding, and would then move on to another knuckle to nervously bite.

It took several hours of pacing and lip-biting and knuckle bleeding until a doctor finally emerged from the room Askira was in. Their eyes were frantic, as though he only had a certain amount of time till something else needed to be done on Gadreel's wife.

The son of Ares rushed over to the doctor. "Is she okay? Is our child okay? Is it a girl, or a boy?" He asked in a frenzy.

The doctor's eye's widened when they saw Gadreel, and they quickly shook their head. "N-no. Sir, w-we're doing everything we can, but… We can only save one. We had to put your wife under sedation to calm the baby until we're ready for it to be delivered and give us more time, but… she's lost a lot of blood, and the baby is ill and doesn't have enough blood to survive on its own. We would need to give the remainder of her blood to the child. The closest blood bank is over five hours away. It won't be able to be delievered her in time to save won't be able to save both of them."

Gadreel's expression went slack at that information. He rubbed his face as he processed it, dread growing in his stomach as he fought off tears. He had to choose between his wife and his unborn child, two things he loved greatly, even if one had lived a life and the other one had yet to open it's eyes and see the world. He didn't want to lose either of them. It would be too soon for him to lose either of the two people he had to choose between saving.

A thought prodded the back of his mind with a devilish pitch fork, reminding the son of Ares of a day he and Askira had been talking. She had told him that if ever they were in a situation where only one of any of their family could be saved, to let her die. She had always been that way, always wanted to die after getting other people killed through her own actions. She had always wanted to be the first to die in those situations, and her opinion would never budge, no matter how much pleading Gadreel did for her to change her mind. She'd want him to choose to save their child, and if he didn't, she'd be furious. He wouldn't be able to live with the anger he would cause her if he chose to save her and not their child.

But if he chose to save the child, they'd grow up without a mother. He'd have to raise them all on his own. Evangeline might hate him for choosing his son or daughter over her mom and his wife. She might choose to run away and not help him raise his child, or she'd refuse to listen to him period and go off and do her own things and she might start doing drugs and having sex and all their lives would go downhill from there.

Gadreel put a knuckle in his mouth and bit it, letting out a whimper as he struggled with making a decision, tears in his eyes when he finally came to one. He had to do it. He had to. He had no choice. It was no longer about what he would want. He had to consider the other persons opinion, and this... His decision... It's what Askira would want.

Letting out another whimper, he removed his knuckle from his mouth. He dragged his hands through his hair. "The child... Save our baby." He forced out, keeping his tears at bay.

The doctor nodded, and without another word slipped back into the room, leaving Gadreel as the strong, sturdy man broke down for the first time in years.

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-

A few more hours later Gadreel had finally ceased his tears, and Askira was back in her room, only with a few more minutes to live as they drained her of her blood. The son of Ares held his dying wife's hand tightly as her grip weakened, listening to her voice one final time before she died. He listened as her voice grew weaker and weaker, listened as she told him he had made the right choice.

When the doctors had told them they only had two minutes left together before they took the rest of her blood. Askira gave her husband a small, weak smile once the doctor left, and he refused his tears once more.

"You know how much I love you, right?" She croaked out. Gadreel nodded and wiped at his eyes, and Askira let out a soft laugh. "I haven't told you enough how much I love you. But I love you... a lot. And I'm so glad that you loved me, too, when I had told you the second time." She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. "I guess this is goodbye, Gadreel." She croaked out.

He shook his head, almost starting to cry again. "No. No, don't say goodbye, Askira. Goodbye means forever. I'm going to see you again. Don't say goodbye. Please. Promise me I'll see you again. Swear it on the River Styx."

She chuckled softly and shook her head. "I can't do that, Gadreel. You know I can't. I haven't lived long enough to redeem myself for siding with the monsters. You know I'm going to punishment."

The son of Ares felt a sudden surge of anger rise inside of him. "This isn't fair!" He yelled, standing up and letting go of Askira's hand. He began pacing the room. "You haven't lived long enough. They didn't even give you a chance. _I_ didn't even give you a chance. It's _my_ fault you're dying. It's my fault your dead..." He began to cry once more, and Askira closed her eyes, letting out a soft sigh.

"Tobias." She murmured.

Gadreel sniffed and looked up at her. "Wh-what."

"Tobias," she repeated. "Name him Tobias." She looked at him. "You'll do that for me, right?"

Gadreel nodded quickly. "Y-yes. I-I will. F-for you."

She smiled softly and rested her head back on the pillow. "Thank you..." She murmured before the doctors came in, shooing Gadreel out. He shouted at them, and fought against them till he reached Askira and gave her one, final kiss on the lips.

She returned it, and the doctors allowed them a bit of extra time, getting ready to take the rest of her blood. "I _will_ see you again, Askira, even if I have to fight my way through the Underworld to get to you." He whispered before allowing the doctors to lead him out, not stealing another glance back as he let his wife go, as he killed her completely, crying as he left.

 **...**

 **A whoosh. :P**


End file.
